[Rapid Delivery of Pharmaceutical Drugs in Home Medical Care]

The population of individuals over age 65 has grown in recent years, leading to a revision of the way medical care is provided, including an increased use of home care services, for example. Medicines are delivered to home care patients in accordance with a specific schedule and based on prescriptions written by home care doctors. Although this system functions perfectly well when the patient's condition is stable, a rapidly worsening condition may lead to changes or additions to the list of prescriptions. Moreover, in addition to specialized check-ups by home care doctors, patients may also visit ophthalmologists, orthopedic specialists, or dermatologists on an outpatient basis. In such cases, the provision of drugs often does not follow a regular schedule and may require special delivery to the patients' homes. These types of alterations to medications often happen suddenly and may require drug delivery outside the pharmacies' normal hours of operation, thus imposing a great burden on them. This report aims to describe the realities faced by pharmacies as they attempt to accommodate these sudden demands for drug delivery.